Damon
I can hear the annoying noise of my alarm clock. Are you kidding me, let me sleep a bit more. I growl as I move out of the bed with the speed of a turtle. It takes me a few seconds to realise something important.
Shit, it's freaking Monday. And definitely not an ordinary Monday. Did someone say I'm ready to go to a new school because I'm NOT ready. I pick up my pace and move a lot faster. I jump out of my bed, open my closet and take out some random clothes. Luckily the clothes don't matter that much because I have to wear a school uniform anyway.
"Mom, do you have the breakfast ready?" I ask as I sprint down the stairs. I give both my sister and mother a kiss on the temple and sit down on my chair.
"What would you like to have?" my mother replies.
"Doesn't matter. A toast or whatever we have at the moment. I really need to hurry up" I say.
After three minutes my mom gives me a yummy looking toast with jam. I think I am eating like some hungry animal because Simon gives me a disgusting look but I can't care less.
I hurry up and go to the bathroom to brush my teeth. The moment I look into the mirror I am reminded of my plan. I want to turn it into reality. I take a hairbrush and instead of styling my hair up I styled it down. Haha, it really looks like some kind of pot hairstyle now. I look at my masterpiece for a few seconds before I decide that there is a need for an upgrade. I grab the can of hair gel and smear a lot of it on my hair to make it look greasy.
And no, I'm far from finished. I went out of my way last week and bought some make-up. I can't believe I'm really doing this now. I take out some brushes and dip them into a dark colour. Then I apply them under my eyes. I really look like a panda now or as If I have been robbed of my sleep for the past week.
Next, I take out a different kind of pen in the colour of red. I draw some red points and areas to make my skin look unclean. Pimples are after all a constant companion of teenagers. I draw some strokes more and use different brushes to finish up my look. The disguise is now perfect. The bathroom looks like a wholesome mess. The colours are distributed everywhere and the brushes and pencils lay in the sink.
The only thing that's still missing are the fake glasses and they are still on the table in my bedroom. I hear a loud banging on the door and Amelia speaks "Damon, I need to use the bathroom as well. Hurry up please, you've been in there forever"
"Perfect timing. Thank you, sister" I reply and I pack up my belongings and throw them in my toiletry bag. I unlock the door and run past Amelia without looking at her. I guess she makes a weird face. I rush in my room and put on the thick round glasses immediately. Now I only have to pack my bag and then I'm ready to go.
The nervousness is still pretty bad. In addition to that, the makeup on my face feels uncomfortable. But I guess I have no choice but to get used to this feeling as I plan to do this on a daily basis.
Okay now I really need to get out of this house. I try to not make any noises because I don't want to explain my look to any member of my family. At least not in my first week. I sneak out of the house on my toes and walk fast in the direction of the gate. Before I completely leave, I turn around once more to admire the house and also the garden.
The garden kind of looks like a jungle. The grass comes up until my knees and makes me feel very itchy. I think the garden will look amazing after we cut the grass. But my family just moved in here two days ago so it's no surprise we didn't have time for that.
I turn on my phone and start to walk. I need to look for the directions on google maps to find the way to the bus station. It's no surprise that there's a school bus in this remote place and I think that's pretty cool. After looking around for a few minutes I find the sign that says 'School Bus' and that calms down my nerves enormously.
I don't have to wait long for the bus because I soon discover the typical yellow vehicle you see in every Hollywood film a few hundred meters away from me. Omg, I'm not ready and the bus obviously comes closer to me with every second. It halts right in front of me and I am really shitting my pants as the doors opens and I ascend the stairs. I can feel so many pairs of eyes on me. I look up and my gut feeling is right. I notice many different expressions on the faces of the students that are already on the bus. Some are disappointed and shocked others examine me with a curious look. That doesn't surprise me though, as I'm pretty sure this school doesn't get a lot of new students and this makes me a sensation.
I look around while searching for a free seat. The bus isn't too long, the seats are blue with a red pattern and on the walls are some random advertisements printed. I sit down in one of the back rows and try to focus on myself.
"Woah this makes me so sad. The new student looks like some kind of nerd and I really hoped it would be a hottie" I hear a girl whisper to her friend. I pretend to hear nothing and look at my phone. I am just waiting for the bus to arrive at school.
The bus drives through the metal-gates gates of the school and comes to a halt. I have to say, close up the school looks really stunning. The walls are made of gigantic stones and the entrance is supported by four pillars. On the top of the entrance, written in capital letters it says 'Welcome to St. Marcis School'. On the left side of the college are many sport fields and lawns. I forgot about it for a moment but this school is renowned in general and additionally to that widely known for the sport achievements of the students. I walk through the entrance after a moment of hesitation. I was told to look for the school administration office. But since nobody explained me where to go, it takes me about five minutes to reach my destination. I take a deep breath and knock on the door three times.
"Come in" a high-pitched voice answers. I walk in and in front of me sits a middle-aged woman with square glasses. She doesn't look that friendly.
"Good morning miss" I say while I bow my head in front of her. She looks at me with wary eyes and scrunches her nose. "You must be Damon right, wait a few seconds I will go and take your uniform from next door, you can take a seat in the meantime"
Maybe I have judged her to early because she actually has a friendly tone in her voice. I look at her as she leaves the through the door. I grab the opportunity and take a quick look around the room. On the table and on the shelves are many pictures of I guess her family and on the wall I see a lot of certificates from all the sports achievements that were made. And in the middle of the room there even is a deer head attached to the wall… New places, new traditions I guess.
The teacher comes back, in her hand a green-yellow uniform. "Just call me Ms. Miller please. And if you ever come across problems feel free to pay me a visit" she hands me the uniform over.
"I will just explain you some basic things about the school, feel free to interrupt me if you have any questions" she adds. I just nod my head in agreement and she goes on.
"There are three sophomore classes this year. You can find all your classrooms of the sophomores on the third floors. The students for each class are chosen based on their grades. You're in the second one. Since the goal of this school is the independence of each student, I won't explain too much to you. You can figure it your yourself. I expect you to be able to manage mainly on your own and in case of questions you can always get help from classmates or the class president" she babbles without a break.
I digress. Isn't she just inconsistent with herself by telling me to ask her anything but now she's talking about independence?! But whatever. I try to focus on her again
"There is a dorm for the boys and one for the girls but this information is basically useless for you since you're staying with your family. You just need to remember to never enter the girl's dorm after dinner.
In general, you find at all the rules and regulations on the school's homepage. I will give you a paper where you can find all your logins and passwords. For example, for the homepage, library or the social programs website" she explains me. After some seconds of silence, she finishes her speech
"This should be about it. You can join your class now. It should be room 3D".
"Thank you very much miss..." Oh I still don't her name
"Call me Ms. Miller" she helped me out
"Well thank you very much Ms. Miller!"
I stroll through the hallways looking for the right classroom. Okay I have taken the first step in this school but the biggest hurdle is still in front of me. Surviving my senior year without any fake friends disturbing me and annoying girls clinging onto me.
With my bad luck I of course come across the school bullies on my first day. At least that's what I guess they are when I see them walking in my direction, flexing their abs.
"Hey ugly face" one of those dudes with black hair and small lips spits out. He begins to laugh and his friends join him.
"He looks like he is made out of trash and I can smell his bad odour from here" one friend ads. They are laughing as they bump into my shoulders and go on their way.
I guess there are bullies in everywhere in the world yet I couldn't care less about them. Because firstly, I know I could win a fistfight against them in an emergency situation and secondly, I know they are spitting nonsense because I don't smell bad. They should just shut their mouths because they reek of sweat themselves. Based on their smell I guess they are maybe jocks. Interestingly, they have the same disgusting attitude as the jocks in my old school and their clothing style is also pretty similar. Let me hope I will never cross paths with them again.
I straighten my uniform and ignore the stares from the bystanders. Fortunately, it's breaktime right now because otherwise I would be forced to make one of those weird introductions in front of my new class. I am now able to see my classroom and I enter quickly. I look for a free seat as far back as possible. I discover a free seat next to the window which pleases me. That way I can stare unhindered out of the windows during the lessons. I sit down very inconspicuously.
The room fills up with all students but strangely enough nobody starts talking to me or even looks at me. I really wonder why. In my old school, new students were overwhelmed with questions.
Suddenly I catch on. Of course!!! The bullies have targeted me before in the hallway and as a result no one wants to communicate with me anymore, not even small talk. I facepalm myself and think about what a great start I managed to do.
The room immediately gets quieter when an elderly man with grey hair enters the room. I assume it's the teacher and either he has great control over the class because they all shut their mouths or the students in this school are well-behaved. I really want it to be the second reason. His eyes are looking for something until they locked with mine.
"Mr. Wilson I guess" he says while looking at me "You can't imagine how happy I am with your presence. You are the only thing that changed in this school in the last three years. My name is Mr. Bernasconi and I am your math teacher. And yes, as you may have predicted it already based on my name, my origin is Italy"
"Nice to meet you" I reply. He looks at me with a strange expression on his face. Let's be real, why is every freaking soul in this school looking at me like I am an alien…
Thankfully he enlightens me when he says "Please introduce yourself to your fellow classmates"
Oh no, here we go. The first impression counts. That's what people will remember. Come on Damon, you can do it I tell myself as I stand up.
"Hello everyone my name is Damon and I'm 19 years old. I'm happy to meet you all and I hope we can all get along and become friends. I really like reading in my leisure time and meeting with friends..."
I just said complete bullshit. I mean most of it is true but I think the last time I read a book was three years ago and definitely not voluntary. I don't know why I just did this. But there is no time for regrets because I realise that the room is in dead silence after my introduction. No one shows any kind of reaction.
In which institution did I end up here, where the teacher is the only one clapping for me after ten seconds.
I stand still and wait when I feel something wet sticking on my cheeks. The class bursts out in a fit of laughter. Someone just really had the audacity to through a wet paper in my face. I take the paper off my face and shout "Is this a kindergarten or what happened to your brains?" at least I wish I would have done that because in reality I didn't even utter a single word and just sat down.
"Now everybody please calm down again, we are starting class now" Mr. Bernasconi says. For some reason I'm really glad the teacher didn't make a big fuss out of this matter.
The rest of the day goes by without any problems. I eat lunch alone, but that's fine with me. I don't come across any jocks and nobody is laughing at me anymore. Not even on the school bus on my way home anyone bothers me. Everything seems normal but for some reason this situation feels like the calm before a storm.